Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am provoked to speak. I am looking at the Oireachtas Library and Research Service's summary of the work of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and how this went to the Parliamentary Legal Service and was teased out. I want to acknowledge the work of the Oireachtas Library and Research Service team for what is a very comprehensive report on the Bill in the Bills Digest, which is available to all in the Oireachtas Library, and for always being independent. I want to quote two or three sentences from the report:

[T]he Mahon Tribunal stated that a new post of Independent Planning Regulator should be created and that the Minister’s powers of enforcement should be transferred to this Office...

The Mahon Tribunal recommended that the enforcement power of the Minister to issue directions to planning authorities compelling them to alter local forward planning documents should be transferred to the Office of the Planning Regulator. The General Scheme proposes that the Office of the Planning Regulator should instead assess local plans, and then issue recommendations, with the final decision and power to issue directions resting with the Minister...

The Committee is of the view that ultimate power in this regard should rest with the Minister, who is democratically elected and accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas...

I believe the relevance of the Bill as published is the interesting point. The Bill mirrors the general scheme in that the final decision and power to issue directions continues to rest with the Minister. In fairness to Senator Warfield, that is the point he was trying to make. There is a difference, albeit a subtle one. Nonetheless, the Minister of State has made a good case and he is democratically elected by the Houses of the Oireachtas. I do not think we should get hung up on everything Mahon said. He said a lot of good things but he recognised, and I would like to think the Judiciary and tribunals would always acknowledge, the work of the Oireachtas. There is a subtle difference but I believe this is positive and that we have to move ahead.